A Day in the Life of.....
Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab. She is forever trying to wrangle her left and right brain to work together (some days with more success than others!), but if her two sides had to duke it out, left would win every time—which can be a creative challenge. Luckily, she loves challenges…she just goes about solving them analytically.
Heather lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat. She sincerely hopes you find her stories have just the right chemistry…
Heather’s second novel, SWEET DECEPTION, hits stores August 7th
Lady criminologist, Miss Emma Wallingford, unknowingly finds herself tangled in the dangerous mission of Lord Derick Aveline, a spy who also happens to be her long lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love—and every life—is at risk.
Good morning, and thank you, Aislynn, for having me here today!
As I’m sure many of this blog’s savvy readers now know, the oft imagined life of a writer is much more glamorous than it actually is. However, I am here to tell you that the life of a writer with small children at home is not only un-glamorous, but is most times sheer chaos!
Allow me to illuminate…
4:30 a.m. Alarm goes off. Yes, at this ungodly hour. Because this “naturally a night owl” author has finally accepted the fact that after a day of chasing, snuggling, feeding, diapering, kissing boo-boos, more diapering, more feeding, art projects, foiling tantrums and breaking up toy squabbles, rescuing baby from big-brother’s exuberant loving, cleaning up after said baby and big-brother (not to mention cat and daddy), bathing, reading stories and singing “just one more” bedtime song, one is entirely too exhausted, both mentally and physically, to even think about being creative.
If I want to get anything done, I have to try to do it before the family stirs. Because God forbid the boys ever actually nap at the same time. And if that miracle ever did happen? I’d want to nap with them.
4:40-5:00 Trudge into my office. Though I’ve resolved not to hit snooze (as I need all of the writing time I can get), I have done so at least once, if not twice, depending on how many times the baby was up in the night. Think about getting coffee or tea, but since I’m a “I’d like a little coffee to go with my cream and sugar” kind of drinker, I talk myself out of it. Most days. Some days, I can’t live without at least one cup.
5:00-5:10 Sit and soak up the lovely atmosphere of my office, hoping for some inspiration. The darling husband gifted me with a budget and free reign to create my own historical romance author office space when I sold my first book, (My hero!), and this is what I came up with.
5:15 a.m. The Heir, recently turned 4, pops his head into my office. I inwardly groan…I haven’t made it past checking my e-mail and calendar yet. I resist the urge to cry, “What in the world are you doing up at this hour!?!? You’re supposed to be asleep for at least another two hours!” and instead say, “Hey, bug…what’s up?” as he climbs into my lap. He wraps his little arms around me and replies “Mommy, I saw a little bit of light,” and I curse the cat, who pushed my office door open a few minutes ago in search of attention, spilling light into the hallway. Resolve to lock the office door tomorrow morning and pray that the indignant meows that will ensue don’t wake the children early then.
Still, these quiet snuggle moments don’t come often, and I remind myself that one day, I’ll be begging the boy to snuggle with me, so we cuddle in and talk about 4 year old things until The Spare’s cries are heard from his crib.
The Heir and I go into the nursery and pick up the Spare, who celebrated his first birthday this month. Then our day begins (all of those exhausting things I mentioned in the 4:30 a.m. slot, along with running errands, grocery shopping, taking the Heir to gymnastics/soccer/t-ball/insert seasonal sport, and continues in this vein until dear husband gets home from work. Then it’s dinner, and a trip to the neighborhood pool or park, after which we come home and the hubby and I divide and conquer, until we get the boys into their beds.
Sometimes I’m able to squeeze in some writing (and all of the promotional stuff that goes with it) into that day, sometimes not. Depending on how close I am to my deadline, I may have to stay up and get the time in that was snatched from me this morning.
Either way, the alarm will go off at 4:30am tomorrow, and I’ll try again.
I’d be happy to give away a copy of my debut, SWEET ENEMY, to a reader today. Just tell me in the comments, are you a night owl or a morning person? Is there anything in the world that would make you get up at 4:30 a.m. (if you are a night owl) or stay up past 10 (if you are a morning person)?
Giveaway Rules: Open Internationally (No PO Boxes please!)
Must be 16 yrs or older.
All you have to do it fill out the rafflecopter to enter!
Beakers and ball gowns don’t mix, so when a lady chemist goes undercover as a husband-hunter at a country house party to investigate the earl whose family she suspects of murdering her father, romance isn’t part of her formula. But it only takes one kiss to start a reaction she can’t control…
Facebook www.facebook.com/authorheathersnow
Twitter www.twitter.com/HeatherSnowRW
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Enjoy those cuddles with your little ones. You are so right about soaking them up while you can. :)
ReplyDeleteAs for your question - normally I am a night owl - I could stay up late every night if it meant being able to read all night. :)
But there are rare occasions when I've been known to wake up at the crack of dawn for no apparent reason. LOL
Hi, Heather! I love your writing space! The framed pictures on your wall are so inspiring. ^_^
ReplyDeleteI'm a morning person who wakes up at 430 in the morning -- and, like you, that's my quiet time before dealing with the madness of the day.
Very excited for Sweet Deception. ^_^
I'm totally a morning person. It doesn't matter how late I stay up the night before.. I'm awake by 8:30 the next morning. After all these years of going to work at that time.. My body is just programed that way lol!
ReplyDeleteI'm a night owl as I have a hard time sleeping! The only thing that would make me get up at 4:30am is if something was wrong with a member of my family! x
ReplyDeleteI'm usually up by 6:30, no matter what. I love that time of the morning. And very few things could get me up at 4:30.
ReplyDeleteHi Heather!
ReplyDeleteI'm up early but only because I have to be! It's up at 6:30 am to get to work at time. Not good for a someone who has a soul for late night!
When my sons were small I worked nights while their Dad worked days because of the nasty mortgage payments that were due every month! Then my mornings started even earlier because my younger son was up by 6:00 am every morning. Did I mention I hate getting up early in the morning? Of course when I got home at night after work there were always dishes to be washed, laundry to be done and dinner to plan for the next night. During the day it was running the wee ones to pre-school and kidergarten. Of course pre-school was in the morning and kindergarten in the afternoon. For two years my older son went to kindergarten in the afternoon and ended up eating his lunch in the car!
When rhey were in 1st and 3rd grade I also got a part-time day job when we had a recession much like today and my husband's work was on and off. That meant at night I baked cookies, knitted sweaters for the men in my family and made what clothes I could - after I got home from my night job!
The one good thing about late at night was I always took some time to wind down from a very full day to read before I went to bed, finally, to get a few hours of sleep.
Today even though I only work during the day I'm still a night person at heart and it's still my favorite time to read and un-stress from the day.
They say as you get older you don't need as much sleep anymore so I guess it's a good thing that I'm a "Senior Citizen" now and still going strong!
My boss can't understand how the "old lady" in the office is always the first one into the office and the last to leave when the "younguns" can't seem to make it to work on time! I finally told him it's because I want to get all my work done early so on my lunch hour I can read!
PS: My favorite time was when my boys were teenagers! Now I have to content myself with my 5 wonderful grandchildren - 3 boys and 2 girls! And yes I'm still baking cookies!
Definitely a night owl... but I don't get much of a choice because my daughter is only 3 yrs old.
ReplyDeleteI am a night owl... I have three kids ages 5, 6, and 7 so I take my free time when I can get it. Plus lets face it you can't watch anything good when they are awake or they repeat what they hear. My 5 year old watched the live cat in the hat movie and called his grandma a dirty hoe. Didn't mean it like that but he still said it so I watch all my stuff after they are in bed.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I'm a night owl, I hate the mornings! Plus, there is just so much to watch and read at night... The ONLY reason why I would get up SOOO early is to go to work :/ That or there is a big event happening and the house needs to be super clean and the food needs to be prepared... Or if I was going on a vacation that required a long drive... Yep, I think that is it...
ReplyDeleteNight owl all the way!! I usually hit the snooze alarm a couple of times, before getting up. I haven't been as bad since my new phone has a rooster that crows!!Trust me - that will make you jump up! Shopping is about the only thing that gets me out of bed early (but not at 4:30) . I love your office, it's beautiful. Thanks for the giveaway, I'd love to win your book.
ReplyDeleteLove your books! I stay up reading to the wee hours of
ReplyDeleteThe night all the time!
Definitely a Night Owl, but I get up when I have to. Really early departures are often due to vacation, so that's worth it.
ReplyDeletesallans d at yahoo dot com